Developing ‘good’ support for student carers: a cross university study

This report is based on the second study in a two-phase project carried out by members of The Open University’s (OU) Carer research group in order to better understand and support the growing numbers of OU students who are carers.  Building on and widening the scope of the original investigation, this study aimed to understand how caring-experienced students manage their studies as well as what institutional supports can best support their retention.  It was a qualitative study that ran from November 2020 to the end of June 2021 and involved semi-structured interviews with a sample of 40 students with caring responsibilities across the university and studying at different levels and programmes. The interviews were transcribed by a professional transcription service and analysed using an approach based on Thematic analysis. 

 

As in the first study, the findings showed that caring-experienced students manage a range of typically complex, exhausting, unpredictable, unrelenting and time-consuming caring responsibilities to the extent that their health and wellbeing, finances, educational attainment, employment and social life are impacted.  The Open University was chosen in preference to other universities because it affords the flexibility that caring-experienced students require in order to balance care and study. Whilst those interviewed were highly motivated to study and for the majority, study was closely linked to financial wellbeing and employment, their motivation for and the meanings they attributed to, studying included pursuing a personal passion or interest, developing a different side of themselves or fulfilling a long-standing ambition. 

 

In all instances, caring responsibilities - regardless of gender or complexity - impacted on student learning in terms of the amount of time they could devote to studying and the extent to which that time was uninterrupted.  Most of the participants tried to protect learning time which sometimes involved intricate and creative scheduling.  However, despite such careful time management, a number of participants still voiced concerns about their ability to deliver against module deadlines, particularly those who had to factor in school holidays to their schedules.  Only half of participants had disclosed their caring role to the university at registration, others had disclosed their carer status during the course when caring situations impacted on their studies. All participants had contacted their tutor or the Student Support team at one time or another during their studies for some form of support or advice. The majority were positive about this contact. In addition, the findings revealed that participants differed in terms of their need for, and/or responses to opportunities for flexibility (e.g., extensions).  Two broad categories of caring-experienced students emerged from the analysis - Solo studiers and Connected studiers. 

 

Outside of allowances for extensions, most participants were ‘unsure’ or ‘unaware’ that the Open University offered any carer specific support and guidance.  There are indications that the nature and scope of support for caring-experienced students needed to be more clearly defined and signposted. Participants also made suggestions about ways support could be improved. These included: a dedicated caring-experienced students support phone line offering both proactive and reactive support; proactive support from tutors and Student Support Teams; a Carers support group; a Carers’ Website or information sheet; Mentoring and Social Media-based Forums. 

 

These findings about the study experiences of caring-experienced students are discussed in terms of their potential impact on carer attrition and recommendations are made accordingly.